Top Reasons to Visit Los Angeles in 207

7 Reasons Get Excited About Visiting Los Angeles in 2017

Artist Concept/Disneyland Resort

Los Angeles is always an exciting destination to visit, and recent and upcoming developments make 2017 a great year to plan a visit. The combination of year-round pleasant climate, coastal and mountain recreation, Hollywood glitz, rich urban culture and an abundance of theme parks make it a perfect spot for a family vacation, romantic getaway or solo adventure at any time of year.

If you haven't been here in a while, notable additions in 2015 worth a look included the new Broad contemporary art museum in Downtown LA and the complete transformation of the Petersen Automotive Museum.

2017 is shaping up to welcome even more new developments including more grand theme park changes, museum openings and the biennial D23 Disney Fan Expo.

Take a peek at just a few of the reasons to visit Los Angeles in 2017.

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02 of 08

Guardians of the Galaxy Ride comes to Disney California Adventure

Artist Concept by Disney/Marvel

The Tower of Terror, one of the original rides at Disney California Adventure, is no more. The structure is being converted to the new Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT! which will debut in summer 2017. The new ride inside the tower will present an all-new story based on the Marvel characters. Riders will walk through the fortress-like museum of the mysterious Collector, who keeps his newest acquisitions, the Guardians of the Galaxy, as prisoners. Guests will board a mechanical lift which launches them into a daring adventure with new visual and audio effects enhancing the free fall sensation which is programmed to offer multiple, random and unique ride experiences in which the rise and fall of the gantry lift rocks to the beat of music inspired by the film’s popular soundtrack. The new ride is scheduled to open in summer 2017 times with the release of the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel.

Also in summer 2017, Disney California Adventure will welcome the Guardians of the Galaxy to join other Super Heroes such as Spiderman and Captain America who will be greeting guests throughout 2017 at the Hollywood Backlot.

If you didn't make it to Disney California Adventure in 2016, you'll also want to check out the new stage musical based on the movie Frozen opened at the Hyperion Theatre in May 2016.

New at Disneyland

At Disneyland, the popular Main Street Electrical Parade first introduced in 1972 will return January 20, 2017 for an unspecified limited time. The Electrical Parade ran down Main Street until 1996, and then at California Adventure until 2010. The original opening float is also back. It's a giant drum with “Disneyland Presents … Main Street Electrical Parade” spelled out in bright lights.

In November and December 2015, Disneyland opened Star Wars Season of the Force, a precursor to the full-fledged Star Wars Land currently in development. The new attractions are all located in Tomorrowland.

New Ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain

Rendering courtesy of Six Flags Magic Mountain

Magic Mountain is introducing a new interactive high tech ride for spring 2017. JUSTICE LEAGUE: Battle for Metropolis, which will be located in a newly themed area of the park, will make riders members of the JUSTICE LEAGUE Reserve Team in a multi-sensory four-minute game experience. The ride will surround you with wind, fire, fog, and special effects as you battle alongside Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Cyborg, and Green Lantern to save the city of Metropolis from Lex Luthor, The Joker, Harley Quinn, and more. Interactive 180-degree toroidal screens allow you to experience state-of-the-art gaming while riding in six-passenger pitch and roll motion-based vehicles synced to custom action-packed scenes with the first-ever virtual 360-degree loops on an attraction.

On the 40 year anniversary of the original Revolution ride in 2016, Magic Mountain unveiled the shiny New Revolution with brand new modern cars and an updated color scheme. They've eliminated the restrictive shoulder harnesses in favor of lap and calf bars to provide a "smoother, sleeker ride with more air time." Over the holidays, they added virtual reality goggles on the New Revolution creating the Santa's Sleigh Ride Experience. It reverts back January 2nd, but a new virtual experience is in the works.

In 2015, Magic Mountain opened the ground-breaking Twisted Colossus, a remake of the original wooden Colossus with new Iron Horse Track and state-of-the-art cars allowing over-bank turns, inversions and close encounters with cars on a facing track not otherwise possible on a wooden coaster. You hit 18 airtime hills in four minutes on 5000 feet of track.

New Ride and Slides at Knott's Berry Farm

Rendering courtesy of Knott's Berry Farm

In November 2016, Knott's Berry Farm reinstalled the beloved exhibit of scale models of all 21 California Missions originally created by Leon Bayard de Volo in 1955-56. The models have been undergoing refurbishment for the last three years.

The park also has more big announcements for both the main theme park and Knott's Soak City for 2017.

At Knott's Berry Farm, they're adding an all-new thrill ride, the Sol Spin, where riders spin in all directions on six rays of the sun hoisted six stories above the ground. The new ride will be in Fiesta Village next to the Jaguar.

The neighboring Knott's Soak City Water Park will also be expanding and adding two new water slide towers in time for their May 2017 opening. The Wedge slide tower is an open-air family raft ride that will replace the Pacific Spin. Shore Break will be seven stories high and include six different water slide experiences, four of which will feature the Aqua-Launch chamber that drops the floor out from under you to send you into a free fall through a translucent flume of loops and S-curves.

In summer 2016, Knott's reopened the classic wooden coaster, GhostRider after a complete restoration with 4500 feet of new wooden track and all new cars. For 2017 they'll be bringing back the local inhabitants in Ghost Town Alive they introduced for the Ghost Town Centennial in 2016.

In 2015, Knott's Berry Farm opened an all-new 4D interactive ride, Voyage to the Iron Reef, to great acclaim from park visitors.

Anaheim House of Blues Relocation

Rendering courtesy of House of Blues

Since both the Sunset Strip location and the Downtown Disney location closed, the LA area has been without a House of Blues. That will soon be remedied with the opening in March 2017 of The House of Blues Anaheim at a new, larger location at Anaheim GardenWalk. The new HOB will have an expanded main concert hall, an intimate theater - The Cambridge Room, and a newly designed VIP Foundation Room club. The grand opening also kicks off a yearlong 25th - anniversary celebration for the chain of music halls and restaurants, as the very first House of Blues opened in Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA, in 1992. HouseofBlues.com

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06 of 08

The Wende Museum of the Cold War - New Location

Rendering by BoydDesign courtesy of the Wende Museum

The Wende Museum documents cold war culture between 1945 and 1991 through design objects, works on paper, ceramics, paintings, sculptures, posters, furniture, textiles, films and books. The museum is moving to a new home at the Armory in Culver City. They began construction in November 2016 and are scheduled to open by summer or fall 2017. The new location will triple the museum's exhibit space. The Wende Museum will eventually move its 11 segments of the Berlin Wall, which have been on display on Museum Row, to a sculpture garden at the new location.

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07 of 08

Institute of Contemporary Art, LA will Open in Downtown LA

Institute of Contemorary Art, Los Angeles

The Santa Monica Museum of Art, founded in 1984, closed its Bergamot Station location and regrouped to re-emerge as the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, which will open in a new home in Downtown LA in the Los Angeles Arts District.

"Our mission is to support art that sparks the pleasure of discovery and challenges the way we see and experience the world, ourselves and each other."

Disney D23 Fan Expo Returns in 2017

Photo courtesy of Disney Enterprises, Inc

If you're a Disney fan, Anaheim is the place to be in July 2017 for the biennial Disney D23 Expo fan experience. People come from around the world to experience extravagant exhibits, the latest in Disney products and technologies, see Disney TV and movie stars live and be the first to hear announcements about new developments in Disney movies and theme parks around the world.